Hardware in my new home studio - DAW selection, disk organization

Discussion in 'PC' started by Pablo Cordal, Jun 24, 2022.

  1. Pablo Cordal

    Pablo Cordal Ultrasonic

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    Hi everyone,

    I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this or this forum is only to share physicall considerations buildin a recording studio. In my case I need advise about my laptop hardware posibilities and DAW selection. If this corresponds to another forum please let me know and I'll move it to the right place.

    Into the bussiness: I have a new laptop - Acer Aspire Quad Core, 8Gb RAM. In it I'd like to install an opeative home studio. I've have several composing programs (frescobaldi, pizzicato, musescore) and a lot of kontakt and eastwest libraries.

    Before installing the libraries I'd like to ask you for advise about the DAW and the disk organization. My idea is having an external 2GB SSD usb 3.0 disk with the libraries, so the loading of the libraries is as fast as possible, is this possible? anybody has this type of distribution?

    About the DAW, I don't know if there are some faster or lighter than others, could you please advise about them?

    Thanks in advance. Best

     
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  3. Olymoon

    Olymoon MODERATOR Staff Member

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    This would be better into "PC" section than "studio" as your thread is all about computer.
     
  4. Laersen

    Laersen Member

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    8 Gb RAM.... not enough. 32 Gb RAM. for the Processor : INTEL I7. and DAW Cubase 12 Pro. libraries on external SSD Yes it's possible. You need have a good soundcard external
     
  5. twoheart

    twoheart Audiosexual

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    If you want to have the disks 'as fast as possible' you should consider to install the SSD inside of the laptop. Thats likely to be faster and more reliable than external via USB3. Also, if you plan to gig outside your studio, its better because it cannot be stolen/forgotten that easy.
    (on the other hand if you plan to have a PC plus a laptop its easier with an external drive)

    DAW: When you ask 10 people on AS about DAWs you'll get 12 opinions. :rofl:
    fun aside: It depends on what you want to do. Cubase for instance is for the more "classical" approach, while Ableton Live as the name suggests is more for live situations. And Reaper is extremely customizable and flexible....
    But there isn't a "best" DAW.

    Why don't you test several DAWs with D/Ls from sister and find what suits you best.
    Think of a project and work it out from start to finish on different DAWs. The DAW that feels most comfortable is your best choice. You can do almost everything in any DAW. Its kind of feeling at home, not pure facts.

    Best advice!
    8GB is far too less. Aspire can be upgraded to max 32 GB.
    https://www.compuram.biz/memory/acer/notebook/aspire/series/7745-serie-quad-core/
     
    Last edited: Jun 24, 2022
  6. BEAT16

    BEAT16 Audiosexual

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    The programmes go on the C:/ drive and the large libraries go on an external 2 TB SSD.
    As a DAW I recommend Ableton Live - PreSonus Studio One.
    Have fun with your new Acer Aspire.
     
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  7. ArticStorm

    ArticStorm Audiosexual

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    forgot the Intel CPU, AMD is the way to go.

    32GB RAM or more. atleast 1 TB SSD internal, libaries on a 2nd SSD internal i suggest.
    (Notebook will be very limited, so dont expect any wonders from your Notebook!)

    Audio interface is also essential, get something for audio production: SSL has a good one, the market below 200€ is very limited.

    DAW i would try everything. REAPER, Ableton Live, FL Studio, yeah Cubase if you really need to, Bitwig, Samplitude, Studio One, i think i have no all main daws. I dont like to write hey thats my DAW - use this one.
    DAW is like trying new shoes, try a few and one, will just get your heart going. (Some time is need with the DAWs to see if they fit, try atleast to find basic functions like create midi channel with a virtual plugin in and then play some notes or make a small little song in it, if you like where everything is, then the DAW is for you)

    Fun with your new Notebook.
     
  8. twoheart

    twoheart Audiosexual

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    I find the separation of programs and data very important. This makes it much easier to back up the system without having to back up gigabytes of libraries.
    It is also much easier to use the libs on different computers.
     
  9. Pablo Cordal

    Pablo Cordal Ultrasonic

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    Thank you very much for the recommendations. I see you all agree about ram memory. Mi laptop has only one slot for ram. I upgraded it from 4GB to 8GB. Any idea to round this problem?
     
  10. clone

    clone Audiosexual

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    Well, currently only you know your actual Kontakt usage. This is what I think you should most concentrate on, because this is the first place any shortcomings in your setup are going to really reveal themselves. And also where you can save money, or spend extra money.

    You probably mean 2TB external ssd. That's a fairly decent capacity, but you may find out it's too small/too expensive to go the SSD route for a lot of this stuff. I use Lacie External hdd's and they work fine with my relatively limited Kontakt usage.
     
  11. Pablo Cordal

    Pablo Cordal Ultrasonic

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    My idea with this laptop is composing/arranging/pre-producing music. So I'll normaly not load more than 10 kontakt instruments. I wonder if ram limitation can be rounded with some external sound card that helps the processors with the hard work. Or may be there's another option I don't know about..

    BTW this is my laptop:
    https://www.pcexpansion.es/acer-aspire-e5-522-8370.php (it's in spanish, but you'll understand)
    It says I coud upgrade to 16GB ram, but when I upgraded to 8GB inside there was only 1 slot with 4GB. I don't find any 16 or 32 GB memory card that could fit in here.. am I missing something?
     
    Last edited: Jun 24, 2022
  12. BEAT16

    BEAT16 Audiosexual

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    16GB Arbeitsspeicher DDR3 für Acer Aspire E5-522 RAM SO DIMM
    https://www.phs-memory.com/computer-memory-16gb-ddr3-acer-aspire-e5-522-ram-so-dimm-sp164665.html


    Computer memory Acer Aspire E5-522
    The RAM memory expands the memory capacity of Acer Aspire E5-522 by 16GB. The memory of Acer Aspire E5-522 can be extended to a maximum of 16GB / 8GB according to manufacturer. For this purpose 1 RAM slots are available. The offered memory is a DDR3 RAM memory. Further technical memory specifications can be found in the list on the right. This computer memory was tested by us for Acer Aspire E5-522. This ensures that this memory expansion can also be utilised together with the original RAM used in Aspire E5-522.
     
  13. Pablo Cordal

    Pablo Cordal Ultrasonic

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    As I said before, BEAT16, you're my guardian angel : ) Thank you!

    Aliexpress or similar cheaper version??
     
    Last edited: Jun 24, 2022
  14. Pablo Cordal

    Pablo Cordal Ultrasonic

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    @ArticStorm, if I don't record any external instrument, except may be my guitar, is this really so essential? Why?
     
  15. clone

    clone Audiosexual

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    to keep it short, I will say that I wouldn't plan on great Kontakt performance with it's current specs. If that turns out to be the case, Falcon will run great on it. I'd address the ram first if you are in a money spending kind of mood.
     
  16. Ryck

    Ryck Guest

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    Hi, Pablo. I have an AMD Phenom PC with 4 cores 3.2 and 8gb of ram. Hard drive "common" HDD. 7200rpm (I have had it for 12 years) As you know from the conversation we had. I have many wind libraries, as well as others for bass, guitars, etc. With this feature it loads at a (decent) speed according to the library. Some load it in about 20 seconds, and other very heavy ones almost 1 min. Once they are loaded they run fine, have had no problems except some complex cpu demanding ones. He went through many Daw. Cakewalk, Fl Studio, Pro Tools, Cubase, Nuendo, Bandlab, Ableton and Studio one. Studio one knows it when Cubase (pirate) I think it was version 5, the 64-bit version no longer comes out. And there I passed a Studio one. It was the fastest and most intuitive thing I knew. also light. I think that Cubase, which is my second favorite, has more elegance because of its GUI, and I also think that it has many more options, I don't know how much difference there is because I never finished seeing everything that Cubase has. But for me the most practical would be Studio one. Now, did you read right? 2gb of hard drive space for a library seems extremely small to me. Or did you mean 2TB?
     
  17. Pablo Cordal

    Pablo Cordal Ultrasonic

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    Yeah! My mistake
    Thank you Ryck, that's the info I needed, I'm considering buying a second hand new pc and leaving the aspire for my wife, I'll keep you informed.

    Thank you all, best
     
  18. Ryck

    Ryck Guest


    A suggestion. If you are going to buy one, I would recommend a desktop one. Mine broke many times, and I always repair it. Even the microprocessor pins got bent, I straightened them out and soldered one. And wow, here it is working.
    A laptop is more complicated if something breaks or if you have to change something.
     
  19. Pablo Cordal

    Pablo Cordal Ultrasonic

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    Yes, that's my idea, I'm after a HP prodesk 600 i5 3,2-3,5 Mhz quad core (used) for 80 eur - the seller gives me the option of installing 32GB ram and 1TB SSD - I've asked for final price, still waiting. I'm after a 2TB external SSD (40 eur) too. If this operations go fine, I'll leave the laptop for my wife, she needs a new one.
     
  20. ArticStorm

    ArticStorm Audiosexual

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    if you want to record in MIDI from a midi controller/keyboard, then its still essential as an audio interface reduces the Latency by a lot. And long Latency drives crazy - believe me.
    And on the system you described its necessary, bcs its not the freshest system i think.

    If you have decent older system, an audio interface, can really make the difference.

    But that is my opinion. Give it a thought.
     
    Last edited: Jun 25, 2022
  21. Pablo Cordal

    Pablo Cordal Ultrasonic

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    i'm replaning my route. I'm after another pc. I'll ask you for advice when it's ready. I'll leave the laptop for my wife, she really needs a new one.
     
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